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The Prince from the Phone Company
Regular Prisoners * Colonel Hogan - Bob Crane * Corporal Louis LeBeau - Robert Clary * Corporal Peter Newkirk - Richard Dawson * Sergeant James Kinchloe - Ivan Dixon * Sergeant Andrew Carter - Larry Hovis Camp Personnel * Kommandant Wilhelm Klink - Werner Klemperer * Sergeant Hans Schultz - John Banner Semi-Regulars * Fraulein Helga - Cynthia Lynn Guest Stars * Prince Makabana - Ivan Dixon * Princess Yowanda - Isabelle Cooley * Count von Sickle - Lee Bergere * Captain - Stewart Moss Synopsis At the start of the episode we learn that Hogan and his men have a problem. Hitler has just recently ordered a recall of all German Marks currently in circulation, so that they could be replaced with a new version that could not be counterfeited. Because of the recall, the heroes now have no money, or rather no counterfeit or real versions of the new currency, which they could past on to escaping prisoners who could use them to make monetary payments while they were travelling through Germany in disguise. While trying to work out an exchange with Schultz for some of the new Marks, the prisoners and Schultz witness a dogfight over the camp between a German plane and an Allied plane. A short time after the German plane is shot down near the camp, the plane's passenger, Prince Makabana of Africa comes steaming into camp, furious about his plane being shot down. He soon informs Colonel Klink and Hogan that he has been in the country negotiating with the Germans for the building of a secret submarine base for the Germans somewhere along the coast of his country to be used against Allies' shipping. The negotiations have broken down and he was heading back to his country when his plane was shot down by the Allied fighter and he was now stuck in Stalag 13 until further transport could be arranged to take him back to his homeland. Hogan and the others, upon seeing the prince's facial appearance, quickly notice how much he and Kinchloe look alike. Hogan then comes up with a plan: they would replace the prince with Kinchloe, have him finish the negotiations with the Germans for the building of the submarine base, they would then take the new Marks that they would receive as payment from Berlin to help future escaped prisoners move around the country, while they contacted London to set up a trap for the U-boats that would be sent to the base. Kinchloe is soon outfitted to replace his arrogant doppelganger and Hogan arranges the switch to take place right in front of Klink's office. During an altercation which lands Hogan in the cooler, the prince is kidnapped, and is soon replaced by Kinch, while the real prince is placed inside the tunnels. A short time later, the fake prince is shown Hogan in the cooler, as Klink expects the prince to press charges. The "new" prince instead pretends to recognize Hogan, claiming that he was an old school chum and orders him released from the cooler, which Klink does. In the meantime, the prince is informed that he would have to wait for new transport to be found for him to take him out of Germany. In the meantime, a negotiator would be sent from Berlin to continue the negotiations. Since that was the case, the "prince" decides that he would stay in camp to await the negotiator's arrival. Hogan and "Prince" Kinch lounge in luxury while they wait until it is revealed to both of them that along with the negotiator, Count von Sickle, the prince's wife, Princess Yowanda, would be arriving at the camp. The prisoners almost panic upon hearing the news, but Hogan decides that they should continue with the plan, hoping that they will be able to deceive the princess and the count just as easily as they have so far been able to deceive Klink and Schultz. When the pair arrive in camp, the princess receives her "husband" warmly, only to inform Kinch during their embrace that she was aware that he was not her husband. When the pair are alone to speak, she explains why: Kinch wasn't as cold and arrogant as her husband was. But she promises not to inform on him, since she also likes him better than her husband, for those very same reasons. At the same time, Kinch tries to convince the princess that her people should be helping the Allies and not the Germans. She told him that she would think that idea over. A short time later, the negotiations with von Sickle proceeds, with Hogan looking on, along with the princess. During the negotiations, Count von Sickle pressures Kinch to telephone his country and immediately arrange for the docking of the submarines. This put both Kinch and Hogan in a bind, since Kinch doesn't know the native language. At this point the princess decides to help Kinch and the Allies by placing the call for her "husband". She makes the call, but when she speaks on the phone in her native tongue she tells her countrymen on the other end to help the Allies and not the Germans. The princess then hangs up the phone and tells the count that its done. She later tells Kinch and Hogan what she had really done. The heroes then inform London to spring the trap. When the German submarines pull into the African port, they are met by a squadron of Allied destroyers and are completely wiped out. Because of this failure, Count von Sickle is ordered to return to Berlin so that he could be shot for treason. Instead, he and the real Prince Makabana are shown leaving camp in disguise, to be taken out of Germany by the underground. The princess leaves with them, after hearing Kinch agree to meet up with her in Toledo after the war. Story Notes * This is the twenty-fifth produced episode of the series, but is the twenty-sixth episode to be shown on television. * Ivan Dixon plays the duo role of Kinchloe and Prince Makabana. * This appears to be the only episode in the series in which Africa is mentioned. * The scene between Kinchloe and Princess Yowanda near the end of the episode appears to be a send up of the airport scene between Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca. * In this episode Kinchloe mentions having once worked for Bell Telephone, thus the reason for part of the episode's title. * Also in the episode, Schultz appears to suggest that he is, or at one time was, a monarchist based on his comment to the prince that life in Germany was so much better under the Kaiser. * Kinchloe spends most of the episode without his mustach, since Prince Makabana didn't have one. Quotes Bloopers External links * Hogan's Heroes Fanclub * Webstalag 13 * The Hofbrau * TV.com Television stories Category:Season One